The World in 2030

The World in 2030 215
electricity but in some sub-Saharan countries, this
fraction is as low as 10 per cent.
Most of the rural communities use kerosene for lighting
with its associated fire hazards and ill health due
to the poor quality of breathing air. These kerosene
lamps provide low standard living conditions and
the governments of these countries are facing ever
increasing fuel import bills.
The main solution to this comes from stand-alone
home lighting systems, which are already available
on the market. The total cost of this system is about
Rs 50,000 (~£300). When the cost is distributed to
pay during the first eight years, the monthly payment
becomes less than the cost of kerosene oil used per
month. There are over 100,000 systems now successfully
installed in Sri Lanka and the people are beginning
to experience their benefits.
Monitoring of GCSE results in one of the villages
showed a substantial improvement after providing
the electricity for lighting, using these systems. In addition
to these improvements in education, removal
of kerosene oil-lamp fire hazards, health due to reduction
of air pollution, the burden of fuel import
bills have completely been eliminated. 411
Professor Dharmadasa is now working with the World
Innovation Foundation and national governments to
replicate this model of low-cost solar energy systems for
rural environments on the Africa continent.